Captain Marvel Glides Past $1B at the Worldwide Box Office

Captain Marvel has now passed the $1 billion mark at the box office. The Carol Danvers standalone movie has been in theaters for less than a month and unlike previous Marvel Cinematic Universe projects, she is the first character to reach the box office milestone without being introduced in another movie. Black Panther benefitted from the character's appearance in Captain America: Civil War. However, Captain Marvel did feature fan-favorite MCU character Nick Fury, which could have had a pretty strong impact on its earnings.

At the time of the Captain Marvel release date, the movie was estimated to bring in around $350 million globally, but it shattered that estimate and ended up making $455 million, becoming the sixth highest grossing debut of all time. After such a strong box office debut, it was only a matter of time before the MCU project passed the $1 billion mark at the box office. Domestically, the movie has earned $358 million to date, passing the theatrical runs of 2017 Marvel projects Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thor: Ragnarok.

In addition to being a standalone hit, Captain Marvel is the seventh MCU movie to reach the $1 billion mark at the box office. Additionally, it's the third solo movie in the group, following Black Panther and Iron Man 3 to reach that number at the box office. Civil War did the same, but it is considered to be more of a crossover since so many other characters show up in the movie. This is all a good sign for the MCU moving forward with Captain Marvel moving up to the lead position in Phase 4.

Marvel Studios has proven that even their lesser-known properties can crush box office records. Guardians of the Galaxy and Black Panther have proven to be huge hit makers and paved the way for Captain Marvel's success. The aforementioned movies should go a long way in helping a movie like The Eternals have box office success too. The MCU's Phase 4 is about to look a lot different from the previous installments, which starts this summer with Spider-Man: Far From Home. Avengers: Endgame is going to continue Marvel Studios and Disney's box office craziness.

With Captain Marvel showing so much promise, it's beginning to look like Avengers: Endgame will have an even stronger box office debut. Many are predicting that the highly anticipated sequel could meet the $1 billion mark in its first week in theaters, which would be huge. In doing so, Marvel Studios could go on to beat The Force Awakens, Titanic, and Avatar to have the highest grossing global hit in history. Captain Marvel has already proven to be a worthy character to lead the MCU's future, but it's beginning to look like Earth's Mightiest Heroes will have the ultimate impact when it hits theaters at the end of the month. The Wrap was the first to announce the Captain Marvel box office news.